The presence of both antivirus and antiself antibodies in sera from patients with adenovirus and influenza B.

Using the ELISA method we examined serum samples from 62 male patients aged 19-23 infected with adenovirus (serotype 7), 22 children aged 7-14 infected with influenza B (B/Norway 1/84) and 113 normal subjects aged 5-30. The infections were diagnosed serologically by complement fixation, by inhibition of hemagglutination, by ELISA and by viral culture. Moreover using enzyme-linked short-time culture assay, the production of specific antivirus antibodies and autoantibodies in vitro by spleen cells (1 x 10(6) cells/well) from normal mice and from mice immunized with adenovirus and influenza B was studied. At the same time their sera antibody titers were determined. All the serum samples were tested against the following antigens: adenovirus, influenza B, ds-DNA, actin, myosin, myoglobin, thyroglobulin, H. transferrin, H. interferon a and BSA. FV. For the further characterization of positive sera, an evaluation of specificity by competitive ELISA-test and by preparations of F(ab')2 fragments from patients' sera was also carried out. It was found that the percentage of positivity for the specific virus and other antigens was higher in the patients' samples than in the samples from the normal subjects. The specific antivirus antibody was of IgG class and their titers ranged from 1/4, 800 up to 1/19,200. Autoantibodies belonged to IgM, IgA, IgG classes and their titers ranged from 1/400 to 1/1,600. In comparison, titers of normal subjects' sera ranged from 1/150 to 1/600 and 1/150 to 1/300, respectively and both were IgG classes. Both specific virus antibodies and autoantibodies appeared at the same time. The competitive ELISA-test showed a marked inhibition (95-98%) of antivirus antibodies with the specific antigen, whereas autoantibodies were less inhibited (40-50%) by homologous antigens. The antigen-antibody reaction occurred at the Fab portion of the immunoglobulin molecule, since these fragments inhibited antibody reactivity. The same results were observed with spleen cells from immunized mice and the above-mentioned antigens when cultured in vitro.